BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 201
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 22, 2001

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                              Carole Migden, Chairwoman

                    SB 201 (Speier) - As Amended:  July 19, 2001 

          Policy Committee:                              Utilities and  
          Commerce     Vote:                            11-6

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Deletes the January 1, 2002 repeal of provisions establishing  
            the independent Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) to  
            represent public utility customers in PUC proceedings.

          2)Deletes provisions requiring the PUC to re-establish a  
            division to represent utility customers upon repeal of the  
            ORA.

          3)Requires the President of the PUC or an assigned commissioner  
            to respond in writing when rejecting ORA requests for  
            information from a regulated utility.

          4)Requires the ORA to meet and confer with a regulated utility  
            prior to filing a complaint with the commission.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor absorbable special fund costs to the PUC for written  
            responses to the ORA.

          2)Minor absorbable special fund costs to the ORA for the meet  
            and confer process.

          3)Removing the ORA's sunset should not have any fiscal effect  
            because the office's function would otherwise revert to a  
            division to be established by the PUC.

           COMMENTS  








                                                                  SB 201
                                                                  Page  2


           Background and Purpose  . The ORA was created by statute in 1996.   
          Up to that time, a division representing consumer interests  
          existed within PUC, and that division's budget and personnel  
          were determined by PUC.  The 1996 statute provided for ORA's  
          independence, its separate budget allocation and for the  
          presumption that staffing should be adequate to fairly represent  
          consumer interests in PUC proceedings.  The enabling language  
          also provided ORA with significant discovery rights before PUC,  
          but with a check and balance provision in the event that an  
          entity regulated by PUC objected to providing responses to  
          discovery requests.  This bill repeals the January 2002 sunset  
          date for the ORA and requires that any commission rejection of  
          an ORA information request be made in writing.
           
           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081